So a fair bit has gone on this month. My eldest brother turned 30, which is terrifying!

So happy belated birthday again!
The rest of this month has been a bit all over the place! My work got hit by the big computer virus that hit the NHS and hit probably a good few people you may know too.

So for the past two weeks I havent been able to design due to this. At the moment I have over 30 wedding designs although at the moment only some have been put onto paper

As you can see some are clearly better than others. I will hopefully have even more to show next month, especially when I am able to get back into the swing of things.

Minus design and arty farty things. I havent really been up to much (story of my life). I have just been house hunting

This was a little guy we bumped into while waiting on the estate agent to show. Meet Neill.

So yea, I cant really think of anything else that has happened this month..... please enjoy some photos of my fuzzy furball babies

So I may have accidentally left it for more than a week since my last post. I think I am going to have to set a day in which I now do my blog. I think Sunday or Monday of every week I will make it my blogging day.

So nothing much has really happened in the past week. I have been asked to be a curator on the View Bug website, However, I have to admit I was very skeptical and with good reason to be. I don't get paid, I am not an actual representative for the website, I don't get to run things or share any of my own ideas or comments on how the site could run a little easier.

Literally they have more or less asked me to just talk to more people on the website, welcome new comers and in a way just help the site to keep growing.

Have to admit I didn't feel as special anymore when I read that part of it.  The website did however try their best. 
Speaking on photos, I finally got around to looking at the images I had taken when the Tall Ships were here in Belfast:

I have plenty more, to be honest I just found seeing Belfast from the water more interesting than some of the boats. It was almost like a different world, I know that sounds lame. 

I have also signed up for an online photography course, I think I really need to brush up on my skills within photography as since being home I have to admit apart from job hunting, I haven't actually been taking any photos of things.

Although with also saying that, I have been booked for a photography gig next month. I am to photograph a mad hatter tea party, show casing the ceramic pieces done by Megan-Rose McCully. I am really looking forward to it, however the weather has been nothing but miserable here.
I would give a little link to her website but the wee woman doesn't have one at the moment.

I am also looking back into creating some patterns, I think I have previously spoken about this I am a little unsure. I haven't yet done much although I have ideas coming out of my ears. I have just been consumed with meeting up with friends and job hunting. But fear not as I am going to kick my own arse and come up with at least one design a week. Whether or not I get the design from a sketch book into illustrator or photoshop, but at least I will be keeping my skills more active. 

That's all my random ranting for this week, next post will be either Sunday or Monday ;)

So I went into uni today due to my Photoshop and Illustrator prescription being out of date and as I am a poor student, soon to be just poor. I couldn't really afford to keep my subscription. Not going to lie, pretty heart broken about it.  So anyways, I had to re-do my portrait of the eyes open bar-code image. I have 10 different versions of the same image and some really funky looking edits from making the image. So here are my 10 different versions:

Some are very similar and there are little changes, but I am glad to say I have my final, although I know things aren't spelt right, I will make this right tomorrow when I go back to uni. here is my final though with all of the incorrect spellings:

I also want to do a little more detail with the type and make it more glossy and even 3D looking, as I want to give it the effect of it being a glossy gold. 

The rest of my day I have been writing up sketch books and making sure everything is in order, I am sure that tomorrow will be no different with getting my work to a standard that I am happy with.

Today has been a beyond stressful day. I have had problems with my phone not charging as well as stress just with trying to get all my work handed in on time. I had to go get my phone sorted out, which was a joke as I have to get it sent away and I now have a phone that I'm pretty sure is from the stone-age. Although at least it has colour I guess.

So I didn't get as much work done today as I wanted, I have been just more or less writing up things on and off and sorting out my website. As you can see the website is now a little different. As it didn't originally have a little bit about me in the side bar or the categories. So I ended up having to change theme within weebly, but because my logo is a little awkward with being a GIF. I had to edit a bit of the code so it was continue to show up as it is currently. I have to admit I am actually pretty proud of myself, as if someone had asked me six months ago to try and edit some html code, I think I would have cried.  

I am starting to think that I am getting the hang of things. I definitely wouldn't say I'm a coding genius or anything at all like that. But code is starting to be come less like hieroglyphics.

Also I know as I had said yesterday I was continuing to edit my magazine cover, I ended up coming up with this:

So I come up with this, I actually really like this, there are just a few minor things I still need to sort out within the image. But I'm pretty happy with this, I purposely chose the gold writing to symbolize money, as of course I am getting at consumerism and corporations screwing over not only their workers but even the people consuming their goods. 

Tomorrow, I am hoping to get a lot more done and have a lot more to show, however thats all from me today

Today I got a hell of a lot done, everything for the end of year show that I wanted to put up is now up. I had to re-cut some new vinyl for my wall. And now everything is beautiful! 

I now get to just concentrate on finishing off my sketch books and writing everything up that needs to be done before hand in. I feel like I'm in a very good position, I even feel that I could hand in all of my stuff on Monday. Everyone else in my class is currently panicking and therefore this makes me also panick a little more due to myself feeling calm. Don't you just hate that.

Although speaking of things that you hate most coming up to hand in, one of my class mates mentioned to me today was he "can't wait for this to be over, so he can stop feeling guilty about wasting time" Shit just got real!
Deadlines can be really good for people or you can crash and burn, I do have that feeling of panic and worry, trying to get things done. It is a little weird when you stop just to breathe and then feel guilty. 

So anyways on to a more productive and positive note. I have done what feels like a million different magazine covers:

As you can see I have been experimenting with a variety of different colours as well as text. I also went a step further with this I knew I wanted  to have a bit of colour within the black and white image. However I think the lips actually make it more sexulised. This could however be a poster or even a magazine cover for human trafficking or something within that sort of topic.

I however want a more generalized kind of image. So, I took the image from the above, went through all my photos I had taken from  this project, and photoshopped eyes in from a different photograph. This was unbelievably weird I can tell you that, straight off.   

I have to admit this I think worked out pretty well, I however think that this looks like me, but a little different..... I know it sounds weird but, yea a different version of me. Although when it really comes down to it, as long as it looks like a person, and gets the point across. That is the whole point. 

So my idea here is a little more self explanatory. I want the eyes to try and look into your soul!, no I just want to eyes to grab peoples attention, although I still want them to look along the lines as realistic, however the more I photoshop this the more and more unrealistic it looks. especially as the eyes are very much a small part of the image, the colour doesn't really pierce through very well, even with the lines of the bar code coming down the face. I however really like the 1st image on the 2nd row, as I think this does grab your attention. I am just currently a little unsure on how to take it further. I am also really unsure on what colours to have my text and I seem to be continuing the same argument with myself on which fonts look the best. I am continuing to work on this even as I write this blog, I have a feeling however I may need to sleep on things and see how I feel about it tomorrow. So yea, that's it from me today.

So Today I have been just sort of tying up loose ends. I have designed a few more bits and pieces and I finally got my work up :D Big smiles all round. However I'm not quiet finished. As the vinyl I cut yesterday has a few issues, so I need to re do this tomorrow and then I will be able to say I'm finished. 

I also went back again and re-did my awareness posters:

I still need to do a few more bits and pieces to these and again more touch ups for my magazine cover. I have a few ideas I want experiment with. So hopefully get all this done tomorrow.

Short Blog today, that's all from me for today, im sure plenty more to show tomorrow.

Just a little sneak peek of what I plan to show off for the end of year show.

Today has been such a tiring day. So today I was to put up my work for the end of year show. 

I went to put my work up and then after speaking with tutors. They thought I should go back to my plan and edit it a little further, such a blow. I was hoping to have all of this done by today. So I went back to he drawing board and came up with these very similar ideas to show:

I decided to in the end go with the second image. So I then had to go and get my vinyl done. I have to admit I was very nervous about getting it done. I have never used the vinyl cutter, but thankfully I had another class mate who was just as clueless and we, I mean she. Figured most of it out. I have to admit I have been working so hard and trying to get all of my work done for hand in and then some. I was a total zombie most of today. 

So with my vinyl I had originally wanted to have under my facebook image, "If you're not paying for the product, the product is you." Under the Coca-Cola portrait "Open Happiness?" I wanted to plat on words for that. Then finally for my bar-code image "Just another price tag."

Due to my Coca-Cola and Bar-code slogans being one line, after a little bit of debate, and discussion. My self and the tutors all agreed on simply shortening down the slogan. "The product is you." The plan is to finally get all of these up tomorrow for the end of year show. I have to admit after all the running about I have done today, I definitely feel more prepared for putting all the portraits and everything up tomorrow. Also excited to see how the vinyl will look. 

Just a little miffed that I have left playing with the vinyl to literally the last week of university. Although I have to also admit I found that the process with vinyl is unbelievably tedious. Tomorrow will tell more however.

I also decided it was best to go a head and get another sketch book. As I plan to do a lot more editing and just in general more work. So that now brings me to having 10 sketch books to hand in next week. I am just hoping that tomorrow I will be able to really start in getting things done. I have also done a lot more of my sketch book write ups today. So I plan to finish it off hopefully tonight and then the rest of tonight I will be stuffing my face with chocolate and watching Netflix.

That's all from me today.

Today I got a lot of stuff done, I'm happy to say I am nearly finished all of my major images. I went back and began to play about with my posters for the student advice section of my project:

I am actually really happy how these have turned out. Still unsure on the fonts, but I am still very happy with these pieces. They aren't amazing, but i do like my graphics and I put a lot of work into them. I am still unhappy with my coffee cup poster, The other three though, I'm more than pleased with.

I have also started to get my joker done for cupcake theme of cards. I am even starting to think about the portraits of facebook, the bar code and coca cola with possibly going back to putting writings on the posters as a bit of insightful information. I am pretty sure that the portraits of the exploitation will be displayed for my final end of year show. Anyways here is my Joker cupcake so far:

I'm still really not too sure on the colours I am using as I want to merge the red and black suits together, or in this case the browns and the reds. My idea is to try and get it to look like a chocolate and strawberry cupcake. This is still a work in progress, I also have to do another joker for the traditional and the monster decks. I am planning on merging these two together. Either way I don't think it will be too hard as he traditional looking jokers are creepy looking anyways. So it should fit in with the Monster and Traditional suits. So here is hoping I will get this all finished up tomorrow and be able to send them off to get printed for the degree show. It will be awesome!

So today, I have been in a mad mode of panic. I have been working my ass off with panic and procrastinating. I have just sort of been doing little bits and pieces. I am currently feeling like my blood pressure if off the charts and I am becoming slightly more aware of myself in public, in case I throw a strop like a bi-polar 2 year old. Pressure is on and I am freaking out! 

I have started to re-design the posters I started last night:

I have started to also photoshop the images I took yesterday, although I have found this to be a slow process. I am unsure of where it is going, although I have to admit. I am unsure of what direction I am going with the photography. 
Very short blog today, that's all from me today.

Today has been a busy, busy day! I finally got around to doing the projector portrait photography, This was my set up today and it was so complicated:

As I was using myself as the model, just cause it was easier and my flat mate is currently at home. I had to set up a mirror so I could actually measure my face up to the images I was projecting onto my face. As I couldn't really line up with the camera. It was really hard to be honest. But I got through it! Yay me!

These are just some of the images I took today. I haven't yet photoshopped any of them apart from just cropping the images down. Minus that these are oh naturale. I also started to look into doing student advise posters. I have to admit I really don't like them and although, the above images are tied in with the viewbug challenge. These I feel (and I know I've said it before) tie back into my main project of consumerism, just in a different direction of looking into the companies that exploit people. Anyways! here are my posters that I created, due to really not liking my video:

So as you can see they still need a bit of work. I really don't like how I've displayed the writing, I wanted to be clear, but I find this pretty boring of a layout. Tomorrow I plan to start photoshopping the portraits I took today, work away again on the above images, I am also hoping to get started on possibly a new card set. That's all from me today.